Santa Rosa Village office to go digital

(Residents of Santa Rosa)

Growing up knowing about the problem associated with paper documentation in their village, two councilor Maurice Torres and Phillip Bess has embarked on a mission to digitalize their village Office. The councilors are attached to the ‘Santa Rosa Village Council’ in Region One.

The councillors have commenced the creation of a database to store copies of various village documents and the conversion of other paper documents into digital copies. A model of the village lands will also be created using specialize software following which GPS software will assist in resolving conflicts and allocating lands.

Councilor Maurice Torres

In a conversation with the Big Smith News Watch, Councilor Maurice Torres explained that in the past, it was common for documents to be misplaced. “When you go to the village office usually, they would have to go through a lot of other files for your documents. Then after waiting for a while, they will tell you it was misplaced. With this project you will just have to enter your name and your information will be there in the system. They will be no need for you to leave any original documents in the office,” he explained.

Image created by the councilor of Santa Rosa Village

According to Torres the project will allow for the documentation of meetings and to keep track of current projects which residents are often unaware of due to the size of the village. He explained that specialized software will allow for these projects to be updated in real-time. The information will then be shared online making it accessible to the public.

Santa Rosa Village is the largest Indigenous village in Guyana with a population of over 10,000 persons.